5 Power Saving Tips For Your Mobile
Posted on | November 15, 2009 | 23 Comments
Continuing the mobile theme that has been developing the last few days, today’s post discusses power saving tips for your your mobile while out on the hill. I’ll also cover ways to recharge while away from any mains electricity source.
The humble mobile phone has truly become a convergent device. Even the most basic mobile these days has a camera of some sort built in. But many have built in mp3 players, an FM radio, do email, browse the web, play games the list goes on. But as the mobile phone does more the shorter the battery lasts before having to recharge. The mobile phone manufacturers keep producing phones that they assume you will either have plugged in to a car charger when using or have easy access to a mains power supply to keep topping up with throughout the day. Which we have access to neither when we are out enjoying our hobby of being in the outdoors.
So here are five recommendations on how to stretch out the power of your mobile.
1) Switch your phone into “Airplane mode”. We all know what the mobile reception is like while out on our walks. At best it just doesn’t exist, and lets face it coverage in the hills is not on the mobile phone companies priority list of things to do. So as soon as you get out of the car, or start your walk switch your phone in to “Airplane mode”. This stops your phone from keep scanning for a phone network signal. Which it will keep doing until it finds a signal. All this scanning eats your valuable and limited battery power.
2) Switch off Bluetooth. Another power drain is bluetooth. I never use it, and is one of the first things I do when I get a new phone is switch it off. We don’t need this on the hill so switch it off.
3) Switch off Wifi. You’re on the hill so the likely hood of a wifi hotspsot being around is beyond remote, or the same as me getting a date with Heather Graham. So why waste power scanning for them? Switch it off.
4) Switch off the GPS. Yes I know, you want to use the GPS and possibly some OS Maps. Just switch it on when you need it, before launching the application you want to use on your phone. And that really is the secret with all these little tips, just switch them on when you need them. Once finished with switch it off.
5) Dim the screen brightness. Having the brightness up high when using the phone eats power. Having a dimmer screen uses less power. So the trick here is to get the screen as low as possible while being readable/usable for you.
So we have managed to eek out every last drop of power from our mobiles battery. We are on the last remnants of juice in our phone, but we still need to use it and we are miles from any mains power to charge it up. So what options are there for us to top up that phone battery so we can continue to use it?
1) Solar panel charger. There are two or three of these on the market. My own experience with these in the UK has been mixed. I’ve used the Freeloader, which worked fine when I first got it. But within a year the battery that gets charged by the solar panel stopped giving out a current to charge my phone. Which wasn’t good when you are doing the TGO Challenge. I did manage to get some charge into my phone plugging the panel straight into the phone itself. But this was only possible because the phone was charged through a mini USB port, and that is how the Freeloader solar panel connected to it’s battery cell. Frankly it was an act of desperation at the time, which thankfully worked.
2) Battery extender. These are basically a battery pack that normally takes four AA batteries (although there are some that just take two), with a cable that plugs into your phone. It then charges your phone as if it is plugged into the mains. Usually this method gives you between two and three charges on a set of AA batteries. These are bought online and usually sell for under a tenner. I have found with one or two of these that the make of battery being used makes a difference. I’ve not had problems with Everready batteries but I have had it that Duracell have not worked at all. Why this is the case I don’t know, but is something that I have observed and experienced first hand.
3) Battery Sleeve. This option is specific to the iPhone. For the iPhone several manufacturers have come up with battery packs that the iPhone slides into. So it acts as a sleeve to the phone making the iPhone a little thicker while it is being charged. You get about two charges from these then they need charging up again. These would be fine for a weekend or a long weekend away. They could be used similar to the next option available, but these battery sleeves aren’t cheap, and are heavier.
4) Spare batteries. Always one to consider if your mobile allows you to remove the battery. With the iPhone this is not possible so you are limited to one of the previous three suggestions. But for the rest that do allow you to remove the battery it is possible to go on the interweb and purchase spare batteries for your mobile. So when out on the hill all you have to do is remove the back of your phone and swap batteries.
There that about wraps this blog post. I hope folks have found it useful and given them some ideas and thoughts to ponder.
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23 Responses to “5 Power Saving Tips For Your Mobile”
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November 15th, 2009 @ 9:41 pm
Hi Darren,
well, i managed with a couple of iphone battery chargers on last years challenge – they were specialised batteries though, not packs using AAs. If you know of a charger that works with the iphone and takes AA batteries I’d love to hear about it.
November 15th, 2009 @ 9:42 pm
This years challenge I mean! Drat it, almost finished my route for next year already, what am I going to do until May?
November 16th, 2009 @ 8:27 am
Very useful post. Found you via Twitter a few minutes ago.
I’m going to re-tweet the link because I’m sure many lovers of outdoors would gain from it.
Thanks v much.
November 16th, 2009 @ 8:49 am
Rob, should be able to get away with using one of the ones aimed at the ipod. Same connector at the end of the day.
Omaniblog, welcome to the blog, and thanks for the re-tweet. Glad you like the post.
November 16th, 2009 @ 9:14 am
Rob,
the iPhone as the reputation being pretty difficult with external battery powered chargers. I had good results with a DIY solution calld Minty Boost:
http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/
November 16th, 2009 @ 10:10 am
Darren,
I found you in a hurry. I’ll come back,read more and tune into your wavelength.
Right now I’m now ever sure which country you’re from!
Greetings from Glanmire, Cork, Ireland, Europe etc
November 16th, 2009 @ 10:16 am
Best way to conserve battery life when out on a hill is to turn the thing off, and slip it into a waterproof bag in the lid of your rucksack for some nice peace and quiet…
You can turn it back on when you reach the pub, just to see how many irrelevent calls you missed.
November 16th, 2009 @ 10:19 am
Interesting blog Darren. Two questions….(being no techie I’ll ask them so that other not techies don’t feel fools
First…Do I assume correctly that ‘aircraft mode’ is switch the ‘phone off?
Secondly…I have always been lead to believe that switching on, or more importantly, switching back on uses more power than simply leaving the phone on 24/7. Can you advise?
Cheers,
Robin
November 16th, 2009 @ 10:20 am
Interesting blog Darren. Two questions….(being no techie I’ll ask them so that other not techies don’t feel fools
First…Do I assume correctly that ‘aircraft mode’ is switch the ‘phone off?
Secondly…I have always been led to believe that switching on, or more importantly, switching back on uses more power than simply leaving the phone on 24/7. Can you advise?
Cheers,
Robin
November 16th, 2009 @ 10:21 am
Sorry about the double post, had a ’senior moment’!
November 16th, 2009 @ 10:26 am
Robin Fenlander,
Until I read your comment, I thought “aircraft” mode was a read setting I hadn’t noticed on my phone.
Always ask the basic question. Thank you.
BTW I’m waiting for the answer.
November 16th, 2009 @ 1:06 pm
Camera? MP3 player? Bluetooth? Wi-fi? GPS?…
Crikey, my phone makes and receives calls and that’s all!. It’s normally switched off on a backpack.
However this did give me the idea of buying a very simple phone that plays MP3s: – my current standalone player is total crap. Does MP3 playing consume much power?. Or does it depend more on whether the screen is illuminated all the time when playing them?.
November 16th, 2009 @ 1:08 pm
For OMANIBLOG
Hi, I have to admit I thought the same, but there was nothing the instruction manual so I hazarded a guess….!!!
Be interesting to see what Darren says.
Have just been to your blog and now added it to my blogroll at http://www.fenlander2.wordpress.com
Cheers,
Robin
November 16th, 2009 @ 2:15 pm
The ‘airplane mode’ is also sometimes called ‘flight mode’ or ’stand alone mode’ or even ‘offline mode’ it is not on every phone. But is available on a lot of them. As I said it stops the searching for networks. Which means on some of the more sophisticated phones out there that you can use the other functionality of the phone when you are not allowed to transmit/receive like on a plane or in a hospital. But when we know there is no signal or poor coverage it can be used not to waste battery searching for a network. Which can be a major battery drain.
There is switching off and there is switching off. Alot of the time when we switch our phones off they are really just in stand by mode and still searching and tracking that network signal.
But even if you do still switch it completely off, I would still have ‘airplane mode’ switched on. Just because when I power the phone up I wouldnt want to keep searching for a network each time just to use some of the phones other functionality.
Robin, not heard that bit of advice. But I would imagine it is all to do with having to go through all the extra boot up stuff like find a network, and other system checks that would use more power up.
November 16th, 2009 @ 2:26 pm
GeoffC, playing mp3’s will consume more power. But specifics will vary from phone to phone, but they will most likely give you a number of hours of continous playback on their specs.
Its hard to give exact details because the phone manufacturers are never standard in how they do things, so while one manufacturer may switch off the display while playing music others may not. But I would expect that to be taken into account when they give playback details.
November 16th, 2009 @ 8:02 pm
Thanks Darren.
I’ll start trawling all the phone specs and see if I can find a simple cheap one.
November 17th, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
Darren,
lots of the chargers aimed at the iphone don’t actually work. I’m a big fan of the powermonkey charger – although I’m never carried the solar charger on the challenge – reliable sunshine being in scare supply. When they brought out a charger that used standard batteries – the powerchimp – it doesn’t work with iphones. Don’t know if this is a genuine technical difference or just Apple using software to ensure everyone ha sto buy new accessories, but there it is. Never mind, there’s always Mr slomans advice to fall back on!
November 18th, 2009 @ 11:09 am
Rob, thanks for that feedback on the battery chargers for the iphone. I haven’t got round to trying them yet. All my experience has been with my previous phones and hand held game consoles like the DS or PSP.
November 18th, 2009 @ 11:19 pm
An interesting post and as a fellow iphone user I’m used to the downsides being the poor battery life – hence the need to use the tricks you mentioned. I guess it’s battery life reflects the fact I use it as a pocket computer as much as I use it as a phone. I do use a Power Monkey Explorer (which contains a rechargeable lithium-ion cell) which provides enough juice for about two re-charges of the iphone on a single charge. The iphone does seem pernickety about chargers though – it does seem to require a bit more juice and hence only certain chargers seem to work. I tried the solar-panel which I bought with the Power-Monkey and it supplies enough juice to charge the monkey (slowly), but not to charge the phone directly. But I would recommend the Power-Monkey – it weighs sod-all and holds it charge for ages .
November 19th, 2009 @ 9:45 am
Nigel, thanks for that great comment. Very interesting to have that feedback on the Power-Monkey
November 19th, 2009 @ 7:40 pm
I’d second the powermonkey vote – although the comment on the solar panels confirms my fears. depending on your accomodation plans you can recharge it from the mains – which i did last year but this year I went for the tent option wherever possible. I’ve found several custom external batteries for the iphone, but nothing utilising standard batteries.
Thanks to lighthiker for the tip – I’ll take a look at that.
November 19th, 2009 @ 8:33 pm
Rob, thanks for the great posts. Your feedback has also been very informative.
It’s feedback like this that makes me just love the way blogs work.
December 6th, 2009 @ 12:34 pm
You missed one
On the hills switch off the phone until you want to make/check calls
Battery life is then measured in weeks not days